He will say or do anything at this point to do PS harm. All because he didn't get his contract extension last summer. It was at that point he checked out, and then his agent went on the hunt to secure him a new home. Glad he's gone and glad he will never be back.So glad we have these freshman posters who are diligently scouring the interwebs for all things negative.
James Franklin Throws Penn State Under the Bus for Not Caring About Players
- Thread starter NittanyLionRoar
- Start date
Good thing we replaced him with another coach that cares about his players.
From 2026 QB recruit Kase Evans:
“Coach Campbell is just sincere and truly cares about you,” Evans said. “He and his staff are simply terrific and have proven that already.
“His ability to connect with his players on a personal level. He truly cares about his players and their path moving forward. Not only that but he sees past football. He makes sure he is developing success men not just football players.”
From 2026 QB recruit Kase Evans:
“Coach Campbell is just sincere and truly cares about you,” Evans said. “He and his staff are simply terrific and have proven that already.
“His ability to connect with his players on a personal level. He truly cares about his players and their path moving forward. Not only that but he sees past football. He makes sure he is developing success men not just football players.”
He's a Flim Flam Man plain and simple and it took me longer than others to figure that out. He's disloyal and basically dishonest.
Harming PSU (potentially) helps VT recruit. The worse he can make Penn state look the better for him now. He’s at a competitor.
Just like after the UCLA game he gave several reasons for the loss including “maybe we didn’t get over Oregon” when he actually meant “I”.
Irrelevant. Did you care about the blue chip ratio when Joe was winning? 0 wins vs Bryant.
You dont get extra credit for bad recruiting and you dont lose points for good recruiting.
He's burning the candle at both ends working the ends toward the middle it's what all narcissists eventually end up doing he will flame out.
Whoa dude. That’s so unfair. Not only was he not over his head but he showed how a different approach and forcing all parties to think differently could make this team go. My opinion is he acquitted himself quite well. Knowles D and only 1 LB coming to help was a real problem and Rutgers exploited it.
I get it Lando. It was just Rutgers. And in this game, the ball suddenly bounced our way, like it did last year and the way it didn’t this year. We could have lost just like we could have one with a right bounce vs Indiana.
I also get it, maybe TS wasn’t HC material from your view. I don’t agree but I’m also ok with MC as our HC. But this is also true, TS has never ever been “a problem” for this team. In fact, he has been the highest performing coach since he arrived. No one. No one in the history of CFB started their career with the 3 games he did with a freshly fresh QB and will exit having PSU’s QB with the higher completion % in their career. And winning.
We needed TS in a bad way.
Big difference. Franklin’s idea of a players coach is that wants to be friends with all of them. Don’t piss anyone off. That’s an Achilles heel to team toughness
I took it as he meant when he was fired he struggled because of his care for the players. Nothing unusual about that.
We can play that game too. We can list the lawsuits and former players that alleged mistreatment from Franklin. His record vs the top 10 is pretty bad. His development of QBs and WRs. Multiple QBs and WRs did better after they transferred.
I don't see Franklin as a narcissist. We should know one when we see one.
"Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. But behind this mask of extreme confidence, they are not sure of their self-worth and are easily upset by the slightest criticism.
A narcissistic personality disorder causes problems in many areas of life, such as relationships, work, school or financial matters. People with narcissistic personality disorder may be generally unhappy and disappointed when they're not given the special favors or admiration that they believe they deserve. They may find their relationships troubled and unfulfilling, and other people may not enjoy being around them.
Treatment for narcissistic personality disorder centers around talk therapy, also called psychotherapy.
Narcissistic personality disorder affects more males than females, and it often begins in the teens or early adulthood. Some children may show traits of narcissism, but this is often typical for their age and doesn't mean they'll go on to develop narcissistic personality disorder."
Narcissistic personality disorder - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
"Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others. But behind this mask of extreme confidence, they are not sure of their self-worth and are easily upset by the slightest criticism.
A narcissistic personality disorder causes problems in many areas of life, such as relationships, work, school or financial matters. People with narcissistic personality disorder may be generally unhappy and disappointed when they're not given the special favors or admiration that they believe they deserve. They may find their relationships troubled and unfulfilling, and other people may not enjoy being around them.
Treatment for narcissistic personality disorder centers around talk therapy, also called psychotherapy.
Narcissistic personality disorder affects more males than females, and it often begins in the teens or early adulthood. Some children may show traits of narcissism, but this is often typical for their age and doesn't mean they'll go on to develop narcissistic personality disorder."
Narcissistic personality disorder - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
That's where we disagree. I don't believe for a second we needed him. He beat no one of substance. I'm happy for him he got to be a HC for a few weeks but hiring him would have killed the program. We saw him mismanage the Indiana game at the end. We needed a clean break from the Franklin regime. Disagreeing on this is fine but I truly believe those saying otherwise focus on his history with us not the coaching job.
I always evaluate performance based on the respective blue-chip ratio. It idiotic not to. The reason why people were furious (or should have been) with the Northwestern and UCLA losses is in large part because of the disparity of talent. How does a school with a 53% blue chip ratio lose to one with a 12% blue chip ratio (UCLA) or one with a 3% (Northwestern) blue chip ratio. These losses were coaching malpractice, as is often the case with major "upsets." So, yes, when Paterno lost to dog shi*t programs I was equally critical, ecstatic when he won games he should not have (Miami for NC) given talent differential. The issue with James, and I think he did a very good job overall, is that he could win with a large talent differential but struggled when the differential shrank
So, yes You do get "extra credit" when you win with less talent because you cannot compete financially with better funded programs; And yes you do "lose points" when you fail with all the advantages you have. This is one reason why the Cignetti story is so remarkable. He waltzed into Indiana, a perennial doormat, and turned it around immediately with a 2% blue chip ratio. That is simply coaching excellence. If Cignetti had walked into OSU and won it would have been an unremarkable story; it would have been the expectation.
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More likely all wrong.
You’re wrong. We’re all right, you included.
The best example of this is that Allar's best game was his first one. His stats regressed for three straight years after that.
This is a non issue as far as im concerned. Franklin has to save face somehow in front of his new team, with their own super high expectations after being fired mid-season. Of course he's going to spin it in a way that benefits him.
The "why" doesn't change the "what"
FWIW, I agree with both yourself and the earlier poster.
QB play was a significant impediment to this team's success - AND I think a death valley of coaching effectiveness was a large part of the root cause.
Franklin absolutely elevated our recruiting. He steadily increased PSU's blue chip ratio year after year, peaking this year at it's highest ever. Feel free to dislike the guy, but at least be truthful about the reasons why.
^ Wouldn't say it was beyond where PSU should have been, and he missed critically in key areas and/or failed to develop them/put them in a position to succeed.
Look at DeBoer, he wasn't exactly bringing in top classes when he was at UDub, but he's bringing among the top classes to Bama.
Look at DeBoer, he wasn't exactly bringing in top classes when he was at UDub, but he's bringing among the top classes to Bama.
Precisely. Franklin is gone and I could care less what he says or does going forward.
Rumor is Franklin went over Kraft's head to get a raise. I think James cares about James.
Rumor is that Kraft wanted to spend $$$ on portal players that could help the team but Franklin balked. Maybe because he didn't want existing players to get upset that portal transfers were getting paid more than they were. Maybe it's because he was worried that if he took PT away from seniors that would hurt their NFL chances.
Maybe it's because he thought some of the guys he had were better than they truly were. Maybe he didn't want the pressure that comes with adding high profile portal kids as we know James never handled pressure well.
Thanks for posting. I was wondering how the Team could lose to UCLA and then NW. After that it seemed like a lack of Team will in those close 1 and 3 point games. To think we lost several of those games by a combined 16 points is mind boggling. Yes Leadership and drive. Seems about right.
His recruiting classes were, and have been, similar to the Paterno recruiting classes prior to the sanctions. That was not an easy job given the sanctions and scandal that surrounded this team when he took over. He deserves a lot of credit for righting the ship. I do not think he was an elite recruiter and I expect Campbell will recruit at the same level as Franklin. PSU is a top 10 program that sells itself. A whiteout game is an easy sell to anyone with a pulse.
Franklin was given every opportunity to succeed this year and he failed miserably. He was the head of one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of college football. Franklin had the program heading in the wrong direction.
I don't dislike him for any of the above. However, I do dislike the way he has been acting since being fired.